We called 2009 The Year of Living Desi-rously because, everywhere we turned, South Asians seemed to be dominating the headlines, but 2010 is looking just as bright for the desiaspora, particularly in American politics.

Kamala Harris and Nikki Haley

Our pal Jesse Washington, who covers race and ethnicity for the AP, recently reported that 8 Indian Americans–a record number–are currently running for Congress or statewide office. To put this number in perspective, Washington points out that only 2 Indian Americans have been elected to Congress thus far, the first being Dalip Singh Saund in 1956, and the second being Bobby Jindal, who entered Congress in 2004. 2010′s candidasians, 7 of which are Democratic hopefuls–South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley is the exception–are as follows:

These eight Indian American candidates are, as you’d expect, ridiculously accomplished and a Hardass Asian Parent’s dream. Bera and Trivedi are both physicians; Trivedi is also an Iraq War veteran. Goyle is the son of doctors and holds a law degree from Harvard. Haley is the first Indian American to hold office in South Carolina. Harris is the first woman and person of color to serve as California attorney general. Sangisetty is a 27 year-old lawyer who did his undergrad at Princeton. Saujani holds a Masters of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and a law degree from Yale. Yalamanchili is also in his late 20′s and appeared on The Apprentice in 2007.

Drs. Ami Bera and Manan Trivedi

And shoot us for being shallow, but this is also one really good-looking group of political candidates. We’ve already celebrated the babe-itude of Kamala Harris, we totally want Reshma Saujani’s hair, we think Dr. Bera’s sideburns are dope. Not that any of that matters, given the group’s professional accomplishments, but, hey, it don’t hurt none, either.

2 Responses to “AMAZIANS OF THE WEEK! Indian Americans In It To Win It”

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jasmïne Davïla and jasminedavila, Cindy K. Shaw. Cindy K. Shaw said: Another list where I feel like a total slack ass! RT @disgrasian AMAZIANS OF THE WEEK! Indian Americans In It To Win It http://dlvr.it/1w302 [...]

Hate to be a downer…but as a San Francisco resident, Kamala Harris has been an absolute disaster as SF’s top prosecutor. She has one of the worst conviction rates and she pledged to never press for the death penalty. That really infuriated a lot of San Franciscans when she refused to press for the death penalty for Edwin Ramos. Edwin Ramos shot and killed a father and his 2 sons at a street intersection thinking they were gang members.